The present invention relates to the field of cable television converter terminals. More particularly, the present invention relates to the remote programming or configuration of such terminals.
Many cable television service providers use devices known as converter terminals to convert cable television signals into a very high frequency (VHF) signal which can be used by conventional television equipment. An example of a converter terminal is depicted in FIG. 1 at reference number 100.
The converter terminal 100 receives cable television signals through an input port 102. The cable television signals are provided to a signal processor 104 which includes a tuner. The tuner of the signal processor 104 is capable of selecting one of the various channels included in the incoming cable television signal for display on a television. The signal, audio and video, for the selected or tuned channel is provided to a signal decoder 108, which, in turn, provides the signal to one or more output ports 106 to which a television or a video cassette recorder (VCR) may be connected.
A typical cable television service provider may offer several tiers of service at differing monthly rates. For example, most basic subscription plans include broadcast stations, such as major television networks, as well as other cable channels. By paying an additional monthly fee, a subscriber may receive access to other channels, known in the industry as premium channels. Providers typically offer multiple tiers of premium channels, such as xe2x80x9cextended basicxe2x80x9d programming, movie channels, and pay-per-view events.
To control access to these different levels of service, providers can transmit, to each subscriber, only those signals corresponding to subscribed services. This approach to controlling access, however, involves using dedicated transmission equipment for each subscriber. As the number of subscribers increases, the cost of this equipment becomes prohibitively expensive.
A more popular approach involves transmitting a common set of signals to all subscribers which includes all the channels offered by the provider. Under such an approach, premium channels are typically scrambled to ensure that only customers who subscribe to premium services can enjoy them. Cable television subscribers who do not pay for premium channels receive scrambled signals, which are difficult to render on a television. Premium subscribers, on the other hand, have converters that are upgraded to descramble the scrambled signals so that they, too, can be viewed.
Consequently, each subscriber""s converter terminal must be configured and programmed to provide only those services for which the subscriber has paid. Additionally, periodic changes and upgrades which occur in the normal life of the cable system may call for changes in the configuration and programming of the converter terminals.
Obviously, it is more time and cost effective to configure converter terminals remotely using the cable network itself rather than have a service-person visit and upgrade each subscriber""s converter terminal. Consequently, one conventional approach to configuring converter terminals involves using an out-of-band control channel to transmit a sequence of commands to the converter terminal to configure the terminal.
This control channel, however, is limited in bandwidth. Therefore, with an increase in the capabilities and features which the terminal is to be configured to provide, the volume of data transmitted to each terminal over the out-of-band control channel grows. This necessarily slows the configuration process.
The bandwidth limitation poses a particular problem when several different types of converter terminals using different command sets or configuration parameters are serviced by the same out-of-band control channel. In this case, the already limited bandwidth is split between different versions of configuration parameters and command sequences, further slowing the configuration process.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a method of remotely configuring converter terminals which is faster and less burdensome than that historically provided by the sole use of an out-of-band control channel.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to meet the above-described needs and others. Specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of remotely configuring converter terminals which is faster and less burdensome than conventional methods.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows or may be learned by those skilled in the art through reading these materials or practicing the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be achieved through the means recited in the attached claims.
According to one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method for configuring a cable television converter terminal. A first signal channel, e.g. the traditional out-of-band control channel, is used to transmit a first set of configuration data that includes a first command. When executed by the cable television converter terminal, the first command causes the cable television converter terminal to tune to a second channel for receiving additional configuration data. Preferably, the second signal channel has a bandwidth higher than the bandwidth of the first signal channel.
Another method embodiment deals with the situation in which different configuration data must be sent to terminals which are to be configured differently. According to this embodiment, a first signal channel is used to transmit a first set of configuration data to the converter terminal. The first set of configuration data includes at least one designator which corresponds to the manner in which the receiving converter terminal is to be configured. A command is also transmitted using the first signal channel which instructs the cable television converter terminal to tune to a second signal channel having a bandwidth higher than a bandwidth of the first signal channel.
The second signal channel transmits additional various sets of additional configuration data. Each such set of secondary configuration data corresponds to a particular a particular manner in which a converter terminal is to be configured. The designator received by the converter terminal over the first signal channel will correspond to the set of secondary configuration data on the second channel which should be used to configure the particular converter terminal. Thus, the converter terminal can ignore all secondary configuration data sets on the second channel until the secondary configuration data set corresponding to the designator is transmitted.